Cloak and Roses
by JenivueGrimm
Summary: The idea was simple. She could drop her disguise of being a male by occasionally sneaking out of camp to go to Badtown and blend in among the prostitutes. Yet there is just one very big problem that appears... Vaas.
1. Prologue

On Rook, if you want to survive then you have to swim with sharks... However in order to thrive, you have to tread water with three of the biggest sharks out there. No one on Rook knows that better than Carlos.

Carlos' father from the beginning was hoping and expecting a strong, healthy baby boy. The day his child was born, not only did his wife pass away during the labor but he was given a sickly little girl. She supposed that he had gone into some sort of denial. All through her life she had been brought up as if she was a boy. He tended to react negatively at the slightest of feminine traits. Carlos wanted nothing more than the affection of her father... No matter what form he chose to hand it to her. So she played along. It was easy to do when she was younger. All it took was a short haircut and playing rough. However, the thing is, you can't really deny mother nature. As her body transformed before his very eyes the more she saw her father's ire. It took more and more, always more, to keep him happy. For years she had grown up as if she was a boy. Always been referred to as a son and she had always gone along happily with the guise as a male. As she grew she wanted to explore being a girl. She loved her father dearly yet she couldn't deny that she was a girl and wanted to be able to live as a girl. The backlash from her father cut deeper than she had ever expected. Soon after being kicked out of the house she found herself in Rook. Some rich tan beach bunny had taken a liking to her male guise, had taken her into the small group as they partied around the world.

One moment everyone was having fun raising hell in some ramshackle bar. All except Carlos, she stayed away and observed from the corner of the bar. Thats when he walked in with his men. Even in that second he had this presence that just dominated everything in the room. Everything went down in the blink of an eye. Soon she found herself forced down to her knees in line with the others of their group. The tip of his gun rested under her chin and lifted it as he practically purred out,"Ey, look at me. Look at me, fucker." Her eyes looked up and locked with the one man who was to change her life forever. She really couldn't say what he saw in her at that moment. To him, it was just some skinny, broke boy. Yet for what ever reason, he simply stared into her eyes for a moment. Contemplating something that she even to this day couldn't understand. Then after a flick of his tongue to wet his upper lip while his eyes gazed to the side he offered up a deal, rising to stand. A place among his men if 'He put a bullet in all of these fucker's heads'. Those were her first five kills. Since that day she has come to learn just how odd it was for him to offer that deal. Especially with those conditions. He forsook the money just to... test her. Carlos went through training, dancing that thin line all the way. The stakes for her rouse were never higher than they were. Any mistake could land her back under that very same gun that was so close to claiming her life before. For some reason, Vaas took a liking to the 'skinny boy'. During her training, he took special interest in her progress. Big sharks don't really like to tread water with minnows. Yet Carlose supposed he saw something in his crazed mind. Soon enough, Carlos was Vaas' right hand man. They were never seen too far away from each other... Literally. Soon after training Carlos had a private shack. Everyone did after they reached a certain standing within the faction. Yet even with a private shack, she didn't find any sanctuary. Bright and early, she could be woken up by none other than Vaas. While others now knock before even daring to come in, Vaas had a tendency to just open the door and make himself at home. Scared the shit out of her the first morning it happened. She was stripped down to nothing but bra and panty. Carlos had never jolted up so quickly. Yet now she had gotten used to this routine between the two. She adapted and had gotten very good at maintaining that thin veil. .

"...Right, Carlos?", she vaguely heard Vaas ask and saw his body turn toward her a bit.

Without really thinking she merely automatically responded,"Right." Suddenly, Carlos heard the group of men to her side all burst out laughing and hunch over, stumbling in their steps. Vaas wrapped an arm around and brought her closer to lean into her own weight. His other hand came over and ruffled her hair over the cap. Beside him were the other two of Rook's biggest sharks, Hoyt and his favorite merc' Buck. The men recovered as Hoyt said,"I had no idea you had such a close relationship, Vaas."

Vaas merely replied with,"Right hand man, right hand man."

They approached the waiting helicopter and she waited right beside Vaas as they watched the other two men load onto it. Hoyt turned and said with one foot in,"Remember, Baras Town. Get that manifest back." Vaas gave a thumb up before Hoyt finally get in and the helicopter took off to Hoyt's own private island. Both of them turned and set off to begin work. However, she couldn't help but take notice of Vaas' reaction now. He turned his head to look at her and opened his mouth to say something yet it all merely ended up leaving as a chuckle. He turned and walked on only to turn back to Carlos yet again a couple of seconds later. This time Carlos followed suit and turned to face him as well. Yet again Vaas could only manage to chuckle and giggle. It amused her to see him like this. It was rare and in these moments, she found him quite charming. After years of being by his side she had to admit that she did develop a bit of a crush. Vaas attempted communication a couple more times before Carlos just said,"I'm gonna fuck off to look at the newest hostages, yeah?." At this he wrapped an arm around her and began walking toward as he said through laughter,"We'll go together."

He kept his arm swung around her shoulders as they walked to see the newest catch. Vaas was unstable, for a lack of a better word. He wasn't stupid, yet he was scarily unstable in his moods. Vaas wasn't really a very close kind of guy. At least unless it came to Carlos. Many of the other pirates could barely stand to chance being in a room for long periods of time with their leader. Simply being like this with Vaas, could scare the shit out of the other men. Normally if Vaas wrapped an arm around you and was sweet, it was seconds before you were dead. Vaas didn't really like the other pirates. Yet he 'loved' Carlos. At least thats what the other pirates said. Their leader was more stable when Carlos was around and Carlos had since proven that the high position was a right fit. Took a lot to keep things running smooth. They did their best to try and make sure that a lot of the stress didn't reach Vaas and send him in a murdering spree. Yet sometimes that was extremely difficult as Carlos was almost always ever present at the side of Vaas.

As they got to the pathway that lead to the cages Vaas pulled his arm away with a quick pat on Carlos' back as he said,"Still can't believe you agreed that I could fuck you whenever I want." She faultered in her steps and froze for a second as everything. THAT'S WHAT SHE HAD AGREED?! Vaas hadn't noticed or simply was in too good a mood to care as he continued on to the cages. Carlos blushed yet followed soon after.


	2. Chapter 1

Carlos had an itch, a slight murderous itch, at the moment. There was just something about the scene in front of her that just made her wonder how long she could last without grabbing the pistol at her hip. Wondering if this is how it started for Vaas. Probably was how Vaas was at the beginning.

She had never been a fan of new recruits, yet by some grace she still found it in her to still deal with them. Especially since these idiots were technically more under her jurisdiction. That was what she barely was able to remind herself as she stared at the group that had just screwed the plumbing for the entire base. Vaas had yet to be notified as he was currently in the reject hut and she was tempted to send the whole lot of them in as well. Even though Vaas was not aware as of yet, that would change very quickly when he realized that the drinking water was filthy, or that the bath was full of dirty water... She rubbed her temples and then said,"All of you are on my shit list. You're fucking lucky that Vaas is in there. You're fucking lucky that I'm not gonna send all you fucks in there as well. You're fucking lucky that you're alive right now. Now hope to whatever god you believe in that there is enough luck between the lot of you to enlist Roge to help you, but he's not gonna lift a goddamn finger. If I catch Roge doing anything but talking and pointing then you sorry fucks will be cleaning out the shit tank until I can see my reflection. You understand? You will be down there for as long as it takes to get a mirror shine." They were shaking at this point but nodded and with a motion of her hand they ran off to go find Roge. Carlos turned toward the hut when the sound of a door slowly swinging open sounded off. She found Vaas leaning against the door frame with a smirk. He quirked an eyebrow and she sighed before she said,"They fucked the plumbing but I told them to go get Roge so we should have shit cleaned up by tomorrow... Depending on what they did."

"Okay."

There was a long pause of silence as Vaas stayed there smirking at her. He knew what was coming, she knew what was coming, it happened every time recruits gave her that itch. It was an itch that Vaas knew was there at that moment. Despite the unstable condition he suffered from time to time he was able to read people very well. She really had to wonder just how the hell she had gotten so far without him knowing. None the less she turned and said,"I'm going to Badtown." She heard him laughed and then call after her in a joking motherly tone,"Be back by ten!" They both knew that she wouldn't be back until very late. Sometimes just before sun up. Though what the men thought she did and the reality were two very different things. It had become somewhat of a rumor what she was up to. No one ever really spotted her in Badtown. At least not in a way that they would recognize. She hopped into one of the cars and took off, seeing on the way that Roge was already tearing into her recruits. Served them right. Damn idiots couldn't do one thing right. Her position in the faction was one that brought about a lot of duties. Meant that most of her life was spent either glued to Vaas' hip or his to her hip. As it was she ran interference for a lot. You know the one thing she didn't need? Some bullshit recruits who were supposed to make things easier for her fucking things up. She didn't need that type of bullshit in her life.

Carlos drove hard and fast through the dying light. Just as the lights of the shanty town came up on the horizon she pulled over to the side. It was there that she pulled out her back that she had stashed just in case. She unzipped it to find the clothes that she had stored away. It wasn't often that she risked this but something had to give. This was the only thing that made her happy anymore. The only thing that could make her back down from this itch she had. For just a night she could strip away and just be herself. Damn near her entire life she had been forced to go against nature and do what ever she could to hide who she was. She walked out and began changing clothes behind the car. Soon she was dressed in a skimpy black shorts, a slight too big white t-shirt that fell off one of her shoulders and she happily took off her cap to reveal long locks of hair. She had been wanting long hair for years yet could never find a way to have them. Then just last year she had an idea to shave the bottom half of her hair and leave the top tucked under. It had worked surprisingly well. She shook her hair loose and put everything into the bag for when she had to go back. After stowing the bag away she grabbed a pair of flip flops and left to walk the rest of the way to Badtown. As she walked the streets she was just any other woman. For all they knew, she was just some random prostitute. She sighed as she felt the air against her bare legs. It was a freeing experience to be able to walk around without her disguise and not have anyone care. She wasn't the most buxom of women, her body favoring a more pear shape than anything. Whether that was a side effect of her constant bindings she couldn't say and she didn't care. It meant that she was less likely to get anyone to bother her during her walk around town. Not that some man coming up to her with a proposition was something that she was afraid of. Most of the Johns around here were drunk out their minds by the time they go looking for a night-cap so it was really easy to lose them. She could practically side step and they would lose track of her. Her next stop was actually a brothel, yet not to hire. Suddenly she felt someone grab her and yell,"Boo!" She jumped and turned around to see the very person she was looking for. The woman laughed and then said,"Jumpy much, Meghan?" Carlos, or 'Meghan' as she adopted to keep her safety, laughed and replied,"Nearly gave me a heart attack there, Eveline." During one of her trips she had come across the woman and the two somehow had struck up a friendship. Now every time she came to town she looked forward to speaking with her friend. Eveline rolled her eyes and the two began walking as she said,"How have you been since i've last seen you. It's so rare to see you, Meghan." Carlos looked elsewhere,"Been busy with work." Eveline nodded and stated,"I feel you. Sometimes the bastard just keeps us busy with the sheer number of men." Eveline folded her hands behind her back as she put a bit more sway in her walk. Typical signs that she was happy to see Carlos again, well not Carlos but 'Meghan'. It was a welcomed sight to see and even in a place like this, there were rare moments of normality. They were precious and you had to enjoy them while they lasted. You could never tell when the next one would come, or even if it would come again. Carlos nodded and then asked,"You've been doing well I hope. Heard any good rumors going around? What's the gossip?" They talked at length about nothing and everything at the same time. It was enjoyable to indulge in girl talk with someone. Eveline turned to 'Meghan' and asked,"Well hey since you're sort of got some downtime, want to go to the bar?!" Carlos thought about it and smiled. She then replied,"Race you there!" With out she set off at a running pace. Stamina and speed were the perks of being a pirate. Eveline had no real chance of beating her yet she stayed just ahead of her to give her an easy time. They both bolted to the bar and she rushed a bit ahead as soon as it was within a few feet of her. She quickly opened the door to the bar and ran inside giggling... Only she slammed into a back which made her fall back on her ass.

The moment she looked up to see who it was, her blood ran cold. She could feel color drain from her face. Dread constricted her and she could barely find it in her to breath. He turned around lazily at the impact at stared down at her. It was Vaas and Carlos was not in her disguise. Did he know that it was her? There was no way he didn't know, she was fucked. What had made him follower? She hadn't done anything out of the normal. Vaas was not known for going easy on people that had lied to him. He had a particular short fuse when it came to lying to him. All that would be left was the rage and the gun that would end her life. Then again, maybe she deserved it? She had been deceiving Vaas for years, literally years. A quick death would not suit the betrayal in this case. She knew him better than that. She was going to be tortured for months on end and then killed. He was going to make her beg for death on hands and knees and then torture her some more. Carlos gulped as she was frozen in horror at the turn of events. Eveline had followed almost immediately after and upon entering into the scene she quickly went to 'Meghan' on the ground and got a sense of what happened. She quickly helped her to her feet and said as she held the very still and silent woman's arm as Vaas remarked around the blunt in his mouth,"Damn, chica. Where's the fire?" Eveline meekly replied for her,"S-Sorry."

Vaas chuckled and grabbed the blunt out of his mouth as he said,"No harm, no foul. Just watch where you're fucking going, yeah?" Eveline pulled her away and Carlos forced herself to tear her eyes away to look away. The two walked slowly to the bar yet Carlos could feel him piercing right into her soul as his stare stayed on them. Both women walked up to the bar and took a seat, Eveline spoke in a soft voice as she ordered them drinks. Yet all Carlos could pay attention to was the fact that Vaas was still standing where he was staring at them. Then his footsteps sounded off like gunshots in the quiet night as she listened and felt him move from his spot to approach. This was where he was going to act, he'd seen through her bullshit and was going to end her. Her gaze was zeroed in ahead of her as Vaas pulled the chair next to her out and took his seat. The bartender of course was very quick to get to his request before he started on their order. Eveline continued to talk quietly about various things, yet Carlos just couldn't think above her own paralyzing fear. Well actually her attention was strictly on the man beside her. Carlos had always been used to the constant heat of his body near her's, yet now it felt like it had the first time Vaas had decided to glue himself to her hip. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest in in her ears like the bass of a song through the speakers during a party. It was so loud that she couldn't even really hear what Eveline was talking about. Carlos wondered how Eveline could not hear it, it was so loud to her. Yet it seemed like no one but Carlos could hear it. She stole glances over at him from time to time but he didn't seem to either pay attention to it or just didn't care. He was an intimidating figure yet even more so now. While she was pretending to be a male she had become used to his presence. Out of everyone in the entire camp, Vaas had actually become the closest thing she would ever get to a friend. It wasn't that she wasn't intimidated by him or that she had become comfortable around him. Yet they had been through enough together and had spent so much time at each other's side that there was no better way to put it. However in this moment it seemed like everything was dangling in front of her at the edge of a knife. Despite the shared companionship the two might have shared it all could end as fast as the snap of the fingers. He wouldn't care about anything but the fact that he had been lied to. She forced herself to appear normal. Drinking had never been such an ordeal as it was now. Her attention snapped to Eveline whom left to use the restroom for a second. As soon as she was out of sight Vaas turned his attention to her finally and then said,"You're new." It nearly caused her to jump out of her damn skin and her head snapped toward him. She nervously replied,"What?"

"I said you're new. I nearly mistook you for some fucking tourist if it wasn't for the fact that you came in your girlfriend."

Did he really not recognize her like this? She had always gotten away under other pirates noses but for the most part they had always been drunk and drugged out. They wouldn't have been able to tell the sky from the ground. Vaas was an entirely different being, yet she was cautiously optimistic that perhaps he really didn't know who she was. Carlos gulped and said,"I-I don't normally come to this place. I live elsewhere on the island. I just make the trip to visit my friend when I can." It wasn't really a lie, she didn't want to tempt her luck to see how much shit she could get away with. Vaas cocked an eyebrow at her and asked,"The bitch you were with?" She nodded in clarification before Vaas continued,"When did you two meet?" She sheepishly took a sip of her drink as she said,"Not too long ago actually. I came up here for something and we just sort of bumped into each other." He chuckled,"You bump into people a lot?" Carlos blushed and said,"I try not to. Sorry about that." He shrugged and turned his attention back forward and said,"As I said, no harm no foul." Her friend returned and took her seat next to her again. Vaas didn't say anything else and the two women quietly talked and drank.

Carlos nervously drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove back to the base. Vaas had a few drinks before he left quietly after a while. Carlos had stayed nearly the entire night before she got back to the car and redressed in her gear. It didn't help her nerves that Vaas was waiting right outside her shack. As soon as Vaas spotted the car and saw her pull to a stop he made his way over. She stealthily inspected him as he made his way over. It didn't seem like he was angry, there was nothing in his stride that seemed like he was about to just come over and kill her. Then again this was a man whom sometimes looked his happiest right before he killed you in a fit of rage. She approached him and both met at the middle ground before walking off as normal to go about the day. Vaas was the first to speak,"Fun night, last night?" It brought her on edge yet she nodded and cautiously replied,"Better than the recruits." He laughed and she didn't know if she should be more afraid or not. The worst thing to do was assume that you could predict the mans mood and reactions. On the outside he may seem joking an jovial yet on a dime he could burst out with that murderous rage. Yet he patted her back and said,"I went to go look for you last night." She stared at him from the corner of her eye,"Did you?" Vaas nodded as he stared ahead as they walked then said,"Yep, found your car but not you. Couldn't find you anywhere either but I did get slightly distracted early on. You so pissed that you hired a prostitute for the night?"

"I spent the night with a prostitute, yeah. What do you mean distracted?."

Vaas placed a hand over his heart and made a show of being hurt as he replied,"What?! Carlos, i'm hurt! Fuck, hermano, you say that I can fuck you whenever and the one time you actually need a fuck you go and hire a fucking whore. Am I not good enough? Am I not entertaining you enough?... I met two of them but only one was interestiing. Can't see why you would want to spend the night with them rather than me." Carlos eased a bit,"I wasn't looking to get dicked down!" He playfully huffed at her response and looked the opposite direction of her,"I could have fucking given it to you better than any whore... for free!" He only looked back to Carlos when he felt a hand softly place on his upper arm. Still being playful he looked down and Carlos replied,"I know." Then with a smirk he wrapped an arm around Carlos' neck and spoke in a low voice,"The recruits fucked the power for the base while they were helping Roge." Immediately rage filled her and she knew that Vaas could see that as he brought his hands away as Carlos instantly bolted off in rage to find the two idiot recruits. He watched with a smug smirk and was amused when fairly quickly she had tracked them down. For the better part of the day it was Vaas who was glued to Carlos' hip as they 'supervised' the two recruits down in the shit tank up to their waists in sewage. They were hard at work scrubbing the walls in a futile effort to clean them. Well it was more of waiting for Carlos to chill out, which was not anytime soon as Vaas lazily hung around while feeding a stream of news to Carlos about the complaints from the lack of power it was accompanied by more of the pirates coming up to them with issues that arose due to the entire base being on a black out. They caught a lucky break when the lights finally staggered back on and the stream of complaints slowed to a crawl. Once the rage had quelled enough Carlos shouted down to them,"Crawl your sorry asses out of there and I don't want to hear, smell, or see you for the rest of the damn day." Vaas watched as the two sorry fucks dragged themselves out of the tank with a loud plop and made their way quickly to the ocean to clean off. Their attention was directed away when a two cars drove into the camp. Carlos offered a hand and helped Vaas up before the man made his way over as they were dragging a few more hostages out. Vaas didn't even need to look to know that Carlos would fall naturally into step beside him. They came over and got the debrief from one of the pirates,"Caught these tourists at a bar in the south east." It brought her rage down to a sobering feeling. They were caught in the same bar she and her 'friends' had been in. Carlos turned her gaze to them and took in the sight of the whimpering group. They had had black bags over their head, hot and sweaty. You could barely breath and make heads or tails of which direction you were going. The air thins and you feel like your being suffocated yet your body works with the air and just won't give you the peace of that darkness no matter how much you beg it to. Unfamiliar hands dig into your arms like claws and shackle you. However, in a sick kind of way, at least they had each other... For the time being.

They would take very different paths than herself. It was at this part where her bag had been ripped away and she was dragged off to where the other pirate recruits were, with Vaas watching from the top of a tall pile of boxes like a hawk. For them, she watched by Vaas' side as they were all forcefully dragged off to the cages. Vaas held out his hand and the pirate placed all the passports into his hand. They followed behind the group to the cage area. This part always made her sick to her stomach, she never participated in it, never liked it. Hands raked over bodies barely within decent manner as they wrangled them into their binds and stained the skin dark with bruises. It foreshadowed what many of the women would endure soon enough. Men were beaten within an inch of their life and spat on. Turning her gaze to Vaas he seemed completely neutral to the situation. No matter how many times this had happened, she still never liked it.

Vaas chuckled as they all were bound and gagged then he said as the men slowly filed out,"Everyone comfy, yeah?" Carlos followed after the others as Vaas went to scare the hostages. This was their bread and butter, this was her life. It was a life that she had lucked into by the whim of a madman. That didn't mean that she felt any less horrible about it nor did it sooth the sinking feeling she got every time she had ratted out some unfortunate kids who happened to cross her path. Her bloody path didn't stop with those first kills, it was just the mark of the beginning. He opened the door for her and she in that first moment had a choice to make. She could have taken the high road and shared the same fate. It was a test to see where she was, if she had it in her to be like them. Carlos deserved to be here with them, she proved that she was no better than them. It was by her own will that she walked in and that was made it all the more horrible of a feeling. Especially since she really had no right. All it would take is a simple yank of her hat and the entire thing would implode. She'd have it worse than them, she'd be a liar, a filthy betrayer, a traitor is some aspect even.

Her musings were cut short by the sight of some pirates jogging up to her. Vaas was preoccupied so now was the time to get in the less than favorable reports so it didn't set him off. They came to a stop and said,"The doctor is off his rocker again." Doctor was a bit of a loose term for what they had but she got what they meant. Carlos scoffed and walked over to the medical shack they had set up.

Inside was an bit of an older man, not quite an elder but he did have a bit of grey coming in and not just from stress either. Out of everyone in the camp he was one of the very few who actually knew the truth about her... Well. Sort of. He was a heavy addict and due to what he actually needed for supplies, he was very heavily supplied with a number of mind altering drugs. Some that he had invented himself in fact. Still at this point she had to questioned what the hell he was actually seeing through those eyes. Especially today it seemed. To an extent that even the pirates were saying he had gone to far which was a feat to behold. Behold Carlos did as she stared sternly as he was barely dressed in his robe and a bra where underwear should be. He hooted as he flapped his arms, his knees bending a bit to the rhythm of the creaking metal table beneath him. She turned away from the sight a bit to look at the pirates at the base of the steps and asked,"How long and what was the last thing he took?" They shrugged their shoulders and said,"Don't know, we were walking by and heard the... noise." Carlos rose and eyebrow and nodded before dismissing them. Then she closed the door and circled the man as she asked,"Hey, Doc... I see someone is feeling the moment."

"One must seize the moment lest we let a thousand more fly by us."

She started looking through the various cabinets and jars for clues of what he took as she mindlessly replied,"Well that's vary interesting, Doc. Hey where did you get the bra?" He let out a senile laugh and replied,"Flock of geese were squabbling in the Field of Imperza! When I grabbed the largest of them they flew away but I was able to wrangle the Harness of Pegasus from one of the smaller ones as they fled! Now I can fly to greater heights!" Carlos sighed and got the general idea of what really happened. She took a cautious sniff in one jar before grimacing before she said,"Right... Doc, you know Vaas doesn't like you to get this fucked up. You need to be a least lucid enough to be able to muddle through with some skill. Enough not to kill anyone at least. If he find you blasted, he won't be happy."

"You worry too much for me, dear."

Carlos looked back to find him staring over his shoulder back at her. He was frozen in a crouching stance as they silently held their gaze. The word for it she believed was 'glimpses of sanity'. It scared her just how deep it struck her every time he has these glimpses where he actually seemed to be seeing her. After a few moments that seemed like forever he turned back ahead and continued but on the balls of his feet while he stayed in his crouched stance. She turned and walked into his office as she said,"Right, that it. I'm getting you're clothes." He saw her grab his clothes from his office and jumped from the table as he yelled,"YOU SHALL NO LONGER BIND ME TO THE MORTAL REALM WITH THE SHACKLES! I SHALL REACH THE HEIGHTS OF NIRVANA!" She growled and walked toward him,"I can't fucking talk to you when you're grody balls are fucking out in the open. Come back here and put your fucking clothes back on!" He leaped away screaming in hysterics and Carlos gave chase around the office trying to wrangle his clothes back on him.


End file.
